Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces,” following the largest street demonstrations in decades staged by citizens fed up with strict anti-virus restrictions.

The statement from the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission released late Tuesday comes amid a massive show of force by security services to deter a recurrence of the protests that broke out over the weekend in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and several other cities.

BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have begun inquiries into some of the people who gathered at weekend protests against COVID-19 curbs, people who were at the Beijing demonstrations told Reuters, as police remained out in numbers on the city's streets.

TOKYO, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Japanese prosecutors and a fair trade watchdog on Tuesday searched units of major advertising agencies ADK Holdings Inc. and Dentsu Group Inc. on suspicion of bid rigging for test events contrasts of last year's Tokyo Olympics, local media reported.

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly higher Tuesday as jitters over protests in China set off by growing public anger over COVID-19 restrictions subsided.

Hong Kong’s benchmark surged 5.2% and most other markets in Europe and Asia advanced. U.S. futures edged higher. Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel.

China’s economy has been stifled by a “zero-COVID” policy which includes lockdowns that have intermittently threatened the global supply chain.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese universities sent students home and police fanned out in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent more protests Tuesday after crowds angered by severe anti-virus restrictions called for leader Xi Jinping to resign in the biggest show of public dissent in decades.

BEIJING, Nov 28 (APP): The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an open and inclusive platform and both China and Pakistan would welcome all countries and international organizations to participate in construction of the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative to achieve common development, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said on Monday.

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Police on Monday stopped and searched people at the sites of weekend protests in Shanghai and Beijing, after crowds there and in other Chinese cities demonstrated against stringent COVID-19 measures disrupting lives three years into the pandemic.

SINGAPORE, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Singapore reported 817 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total tally to 2,164,689.

A total of 143 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 10 of them held in intensive care units, according to statistics released by the country's Ministry of Health.

Singapore recorded no new deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, leaving the total death toll unchanged at 1,702.

PIDIE, Indonesia (AP) — Children in school uniforms and toddlers with their parents lined up Monday for polio vaccinations in the Sigli town square on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, after four children were found infected with the highly contagious disease that was declared eradicated in the country less than a decade ago.

The virus was first detected in October in a 7-year-old boy suffering from partial paralysis in the province of Aceh near Sigli, and since then three other cases have been detected, prompting the mass immunization and information drive.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares slumped in Europe and Asia on Monday, with Hong Kong briefly dipping more than 4% following weekend protests in various cities over China’s strict zero-COVID lockdowns.

U.S. futures were lower and oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel.

The unrest in China is the boldest show of public dissent against the ruling Communist Party in decades. It followed complaints that policies aimed at eradicating the coronavirus by isolating every case might have worsened the death toll in an apartment fire in Urumqi in the northwestern Xinjiang region.